I have a chance to buy a CooperS loaner vehicle, but I am not sure if it is a good idea. On one hand I know that the dealership probably did all of the maint., on the other hand I think that drivers may beat on a loaner car a little more than their own. It is a 2008 that has only been in service for about 10 months, how much damage can be done in that time?

Anyone bought a service loaner and have any stories to tell negative/positive?

 

i have bought loaners in the passed and have had no trouble ever. i may be the exception to the rule. main thing is what is the dscount they are offering. and how many miles on the car in question. what kind of warrantee are they offering.

 

Umm whats the millage? From my experiences with loaners or rentals.... welll lets just say i feel bad for that car as much as i care who owns or buys it .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3T8byAVbNQ

 

I suspect you are right. I'd worry about it not having been broken in properly.

 

The standard 4yr warranty would transfer over to me. The car is a 2008 that was put into service in April 2008, so the warranty would be good until April 2012. Car is pretty well loaded with premium package, multi-function steering wheel, cold weather package, chrome trim interior, chromeline exterior and a couple of other goodies. Asking is $21,990. Mileage is below 8,000. Automatic trans. which I am not crazy about, but my commute is stop and go for 15 miles each way; and I have a bum knee.

 

That was crazy video. Although I don't think that would happen with a service loaner. But you never know? I will be sure to give the car once over for such obvious abuse. But I will still have over 3 years on the warranty too.

 

I used to practice my handbrake turn and 4 wheel drift techniques with my loaners, if that tells ya something.

 

Well, as you know, loaner car is a loaner car. So, everyone try it out. Some try it really hard and have fun with the car. If you are looking for short-term, you can go ahead with loaner car because its under warranty till 50,000 miles or 4 years.

Make sure, you take test drive of loaner car and don't forget to get a good deal on the price. Its a loaner car with miles, so you already paying lower price (couple of thousands).

 

You may wnt to look around at used mini's, that price doesn't sound that good for an '08 with 7K miles. I could be wrong, however seems a little steep.

 

This is not a bad price for an 08 CooperS with 6,800 miles. The original sticker was just over $27,000. I don't think that $5,000 off of sticker for a car that has an inservice date of June 08 is bad. I still have 3.5 years on the warranty and purchased an additional 3 years just in case. They also gave me $800 over Kelly Blue Book on my trade-in. The paint is flawless, the interior clean as a whistle. Not sure how people treat loaners in your area, but they all looked pretty clean at this dealership. I think that the economy is finally hitting Mini, and they are making deals that they never have in the past. They were willing to discount any car they had on the lot, new and used. The dealership was quiet for a Saturday, which was unusual too. And this is supposed to be the busiest of the three in my area. If you are looking to buy now is the time. Once Spring hits and business picks up, I'm sure MSRP will be back.

 

IMO, The MINI was manager driven during the break in period.

And as far as "beating on it". I would be more concerned with the interior, and carpeting ( spilt coffee ). These cars are designed to be driven, not babied.

 

Agree with you on the economy. We bought our R56 at St. Louis Mini. We passed thru St. Louis last summer when the gas was $4/gal and they had no cars on the lot to sell. Last month, however, they were packed. Lots of cars and very few sales. I think there are deals out there, no matter which part of the country you're in.

One thing I learned about buying the extended maintenance and warranty....If you mod the car with upgraded brakes and stuff, even if you put on JCW official Mini stuff, they will only do the extended maintenance back to the way the car was delivered. That seems to be the norm, with some possible exceptions. Too bad....I'd really like the big rotors on my R56.

 

If the price seems fair, I would maybe try to negotiate for extended warranty and service. Call it peace of mind. Have it checked over at an indy shop that knows MINIs if you really want to be safe.

I know some people beat on their loaners, but I would bet that's not really the norm.

 

1) I always figure a loaner could be a car that was either damaged on the carrier delivering to the dealer and thus a good car to use as a loaner or one that otherwise kept in the shop for a bit, like a hard to trace mechanical or electrical problem, they then call it a loaner instead of a car that has been hit or a problem repair job
2) the "damage" could have been done in the first few hundred (break in) miles of the car. I know my selling dealer was trying to get me to beat on the car i bought to show me what it could do. So how would he drive his own? Er, the car he actually does not own but drives
3) I see a loaner as actually a car that anyone in the dealership has used, Say the car the top salesman gets to drive for free.
I would not buy a loaner as much as I would not buy an ex rental.

I actually bought one loaner and the story is too depressing to post here, well the VERY short version was that the car had 4k miles, V8 Grand Cherokee) and after experiencing some weird problems I found out the car had been driven into the bay by a fired manager, cleaned up and sold to me as new.

Peter

 

wow sounds like an interesting story ... so how did you findout?

 

i think the deal is pretty good. saving 5K on a mini is good. you could try for a certified mini waranty as an added bonus. where did you find that car. this time of year is when bmw dumps its exec cars too. could be one of those.

 

I found the car at Bill Jacobs Mini in Naperville, IL. I did see a carfax report, and it was only in for service for initial inspection and exhaust pipe recall of some sort that 08 S had issue with. Then inspection before hitting the sales floor. I did buy the extended BMW warranty to 7 years 75,000 miles. That made me feel a little more comfortable with my purchase. Manager told me that they usually sell loaners at six month point, to keep miles down and it allows them to sell a discounted car and keep their numbers up. Not sure how true that is, but having bumper to bumper for next 7 years helps me sleep at night.

 

Not a big fan of used cars. The car was most likely driven hard but so what. I would negotiate an extended warrenty if you really like the deal..

 

FYI some people complained about getting leg burns from the tailpipes when reaching in the back of their cars--yes, that was the recall, just to have them "shortened"

 

If it was driven hard, but not abused in its first hundred miles, they did you a favor.

YD

 

I agree

 

I know that we do not use damaged cars, we pick cars that have been sitting on the lot for a longer period of time. Our BMW fleet has a good mix of 1 series, 3 series, 5 series and some X5s. Our MINI fleet was determined by a different person who though it would be a good idea to put only MINI Coopers in, we don't have one S or Clubman.

Now some of our cars have been in accidents, got speeding tickets and red light tickets, have been used as a trash can, and were generally beat on. I am not sure why but MINIs seem to be abused more than our BMWs.

The bottom line is that you have to assume that a loaner car was not taken care of as well as most other used cars on the market. Some people drive it normal and some drive it like a maniac. But service is never neglected on loaner cars and anything that may have been broken should have been repaired. It is a risk, I would ask the dealer for service records and stuff like that to see if there was anything done to this particular car that might be alarming.

 

I only had a loaner once, but the worst thing I did to it was try to merge on the higway like I was driving my MCS (it was a MCC auto) and leave the poor porter with almost no gas when he came to get it because they did it to me (long story but I had a bad experience).
If it's what you're looking for and it's a good deal, I wouldn't shy away from it just because it's a loaner - treat it like any used car.

 

Well, I've been driving it for a couple of days now and love the car. If it was abused in the last six months, I would not know it. The interior was extremely clean, and the outside doesn't have a single scratch on it. There is a chip in the windshield, but I purchased the Titanium package that covers dents & dings, windshield chips, so I can get that taken care of when weather warms up. If things go wrong with the car, I do have an extended 7 yr warranty, and I guess I'll never know if it is because it was abused or it was going to happen if I bought it new. How do any of us ever know what causes our cars to breakdown. I did as much as I could to protect myself here including a Carfax report. Whenever you buy any used car, you never know how the owner really treated it. I have had friends that treated their own cars horribly, and sold or traded them in to a dealer. Cars are made to take a certain amount of abuse, and if it is going to affect them, it usually becomes apparent pretty quickly after the abuse. I'll just keep my fingers crossed, and my warranty papers close by.

 

Congratulations!
Sounds like you did all the research you could do, and getting the warranty will cover you if anything happens. I am sure everything will be fine though. Also good to hear that you are loving the car